Tiki Primer

Jeffery Lindenmuth -
June 2014

A Tiki culture connoisseur takes a serious look at tropical drinks and offers history and instruction to give them the respect they deserve.

It’s tough to look upon a cocktail garnished with a plastic monkey or a bamboo backscratcher (Tropical Itch, Caribe Hilton, 1957) without snickering, but Beachbum Berry’s Potions of the Caribbean treats such splashy drinks with reverence, sailing leisurely from their pre-Columbian ancestry to the global embrace of Tiki culture, while revealing their lasting influence on mixology. “These were the first farm-to-glass culinary craft cocktails in America following Prohibition,” says author Jeff Berry (pictured), describing how tiki drink titans like “Don the Beachcomber” pioneered “ice programs” and concocted balanced cocktails using a dozen ingredients, making dry Martini mixing look like a day at the beach. “When you see three different gins in a contemporary cocktail, that’s an idea that originated in tiki’s use of multiple rums. Tiki shouldn’t be ghettoized. It’s a cocktail template that’s relevant today,” says Berry, suggesting maybe we shouldn’t be laughing at these flamboyant drinks, but with them. Here, a sampling of recipes from Berry’s book.

Voodoo GrogTrader Vic, mid-1950s

1/4 oz. honey

3/4 oz. lime juice

1 oz. gold Puerto Rican rum

1 oz. gold rhum agricole vieux

3/4 oz. white grapefruit juice

3/4 oz. pimento dram

1/2 oz. passion fruit syrup

1 egg white

1 cup crushed ice

nutmeg

Dissolve honey in lime juice. Place this mixture and all other ingredients (except nutmeg) in a blender. Blend for 20 seconds. Pour unstrained into a Voodoo tumbler or large snifter. Dust with freshly grated nutmeg. Garnish with mint sprig and pineapple stick.